No Charm Intended by Mollie Cox Bryan is the second book in A Cora Crafts Mystery series. Cora Chevalier is getting ready for her four
day “wildcrafting” retreat at Kildare House in Indigo Gap, North Carolina. She checks her phone and discovers a message
stating “I kidnapped her”. Believing it
to be a prank, Cora ignores it. Just as
Cora, Jane and the retreat instructors are leaving for dinner, Officer Glass
arrives to discuss Cora’s text message. It seems that Cora was not the only
person to receive it. It turns out that
Gracie Wyck, a nanny and babysitter, is missing (they suspect kidnapped). Later that evening, Cora and Jane receive a
visit from Gracie’s boyfriend, Paul and his friend, Henry. They are trying to retrace Gracie’s footsteps
in an attempt to locate her. The next
day Paul’s friend, Henry is missing. Cora fears Paul could be next and offers
him a place to stay. When Henry turns up
dead, and Paul becomes a person of interest.
Cora believes Paul to be innocent and starts investigating to prove
it. It turns out that Paul, Gracie and
Henry were all playing the same computer game. Did someone decide to change the
rules of the game? Can Cora and friends
find Gracie in time?

No Charm Intended was not as
enchanting as I was hoping. I enjoy
crafting and love to read cozy mysteries, so No Charm Intended seemed like a
perfect match for me. I did like the
various crafts mentioned in the book, and I was glad instructions were provided
at the end of the book on some of them.
However, I found the mystery uncomplicated and easily solved early in
the book. Some information was repeated
frequently throughout the story (like the author needed filler). No Charm Intended can be read alone. The author provided the background details on
the main character and summarized what occurred in the first book in this
series. I did appreciate how the author
included characters from her A Cumberland Creek Mystery series. I give No Charm Intended 2 out of 5 stars. I found a few items in the story hard to
believe. Cora letting Paul stay in the
house with the retreat guests (and he is a murder suspect). If I was a guest, this would make me
uncomfortable. Jane talks about Gracie’s
kidnapping in front of her five-year-old daughter, London (more than once). London then makes herself ill and begins
having nightmares because she is scared.
I was surprised by how the issue of depression was portrayed in No Charm Intended. Mollie Cox Bryan made it sound
like a mental illness and people with the disease are unreliable (crazy, unbalanced). Jane becomes worried that harm could have
come to her daughter because the babysitter suffered from depression. She felt she should have been warned (because
she would not have hired the woman). Depression
comes in many forms (including hereditary) and can easily be managed with
medication. Most of the book is written
in the third person, but Jane’s sections were in the first person. I did not enjoy reading Jane’s segments and
quickly tried of her issues (regarding her ex-husband in particular). Jane is my least favorite person among the
main characters. I am not sure I can
continue with A Cora Crafts Mystery series. Macrame Murder is the next book in this series and it will be available on August 29.

I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read my review. I will be reviewing Dead Souls by Angela Marsons on Sunday. I hope you have a fun filled day! Take care and Happy Reading!

Review Policy

If you would like me to read and review your book, please contact me at Doodlesink@hotmail.com. I enjoy mysteries, paranormal, Christian fiction, and contemporary books. My reviews will be honest and are not influenced by receiving a book for free.